World & Eye’s Performance Fest part of Eastworks Open Studios

Date: 10/25/2022

EASTHAMPTON – A mini performance festival featuring an eclectic group of storytellers co-produced by E-Media and World and Eye will be part of this year’s Eastworks Open Studios event on Nov. 5 and 6.

Titled “Bite Sized Blends: A Mini Performance Festival,” the event, which will take place in Suite 102, will showcase myriad performances and stories through puppetry, music, storytelling, movement and clown.

“It’s short works; they’re sort of 20 to 30 minutes to sort of blend in with the roaming atmosphere of Open Studios,” said Jean Minuchin, an artist, educator and program developer as well as the director of World and Eye – which is a nonprofit using the arts to promote awareness through exploration of a wide range of social concerns. “There’s a variety of disciplines that will be on display. There’s storytelling, clown, puppetry, music, [etc.].”

According to Minuchin, there is one piece specifically for children and families and some for any age, however, most of the topics explored are more mature. “When people hear clown and puppetry, they think it’s for kids, but this is a different form of clown and puppetry,” said Minuchin.

In all, eight pieces will be on display between the two days. Some will be shown both days, while others will be shown one of the days.

On Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m., five different pieces will be offered. For example, at 1 p.m., a resident performance ensemble out of The Performance Project in Springfield called First Generation will present their newest work, “Mother Tongue,” which weaves movement, music and stories of their diasporic cultures, identities, families and issues in their lives and communities, such as: trauma, loss of mother tongue, identity, home and mental health.

“They’re physical theater, so they’re quite active and energetic young adults,” said Minuchin when describing First Generation. “These are real stories from their families and from themselves from all over the world in multiple languages. That’s an exciting group.”

In terms of multi-cultural pieces, World and Eye is also having someone from the Across the Sea Foundation speaking about his experiences growing up as part of the Montagnard Degar indigenous group in Vietnam. “These stories are about the teachings of his grandmother and the wisdom that she passed down to him during his days growing up in Vietnam,” Minuchin said, regarding that piece.

Beyond producing and directing, Minuchin is also a performance artist and puppeteer. She will perform her own piece called “American Stink Bug,” which is a created in the style of Bouffon, which is a French style of performance work that has a main focus on the art of mockery.

Minuchin describes it as a political piece in which she plays a clown who interacts with the audience to poke at America’s deep political and cultural divides.

Beyond that, there will be a set presented by Minuchin and Randy Hendler that honors the Day of the Dead and Halloween, both occurring this time of year, which will use puppetry, mime, poetry and video to tell tales about love and loss.

There will also be a short clown film created and performed by Alla Illyasova called “?,” which is loosely based on “The Little Prince” and also is one of the pieces for all ages.

Additionally, there will be a puppet performance loosely based on the “Old Woman who Swallowed the Fly,” a performance art piece called “Angels in the Engine Room” by renowned cellist Stephen Katz and “Flour Dusted Tunes” by Katz and songwriter Jonathan Stevens. The singer-songwriter pieces are also available for all ages.

“I like to gather different kinds of artists from different backgrounds and different disciplines to create something that is going to stimulate both the artist and the audience,” said Minuchin. “World and Eye is interested in social issues … not all of these pieces are like that, but some of them are.”

Minuchin began World and Eye in 2010 in a growing arts district in Fort Lauderdale called FAT Village. For five years it was part of the monthly art walks and produced theatrical events in a small brick and mortar art gallery. In 2015 it became a freelance entity and partnered with the Broward Library System producing the Fort Lauderdale Story Slam and Women Crossing the Line Performance Festival.

In 2020, Minuchin moved to the Pioneer Valley in Massachusetts, bringing the nonprofit with her.
Although World and Eye was part of an event in January, Minuchin sees this performance festival at Eastworks as “the biggest introduction” of World and Eye into the community. “I came to the valley because personally and artistically, I wanted something more progressive,” said Minuchin. “I’m really interested in a creative community.”

Throughout the years, Minuchin has exhibited sculpture, and created and performed multiple original plays. She has also designed several school-based theater programs and run theater troupes. As an artist, Minuchin has included multimedia highly visual plays including storytelling, puppetry, mask and video.

When asked what drew her to puppetry, Minuchin said this type of performance can reach people on multiple levels. “It can reach a lot of different emotional tones,” said Minuchin. “It can be whimsical, it can be tragic ... and because of that, it’s quite powerful in that you can take some of the charm of puppetry and put an overlay of serious stories on top of that to reach people on a deeper level.”

Although the focus is the festival for now, Minuchin said there is a springtime event she is hoping to plan next year, along with upcoming workshops that will be offered at World and Eye. These events include the Arts and Social Justice Workshop; Mask, Gender and Identity; a grief and healing workshop, recycled puppets and the throwaway world, an intergenerational workshop and Youth and Politics.

To learn more about the performance festival and what World and Eye offers, people can visit their website: http://www.worldandeye.com/. Tickets are $5 a show, and the proceeds go straight to the artists. Over 50 artists, businesses and nonprofit organizations will have their doors opens for Eastworks Open Studios from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Nov. 5 and 6. A list of who will be there is available on the Eastworks Open Studios Facebook page.